Waste not, want not. Leftover boneless chicken breast (cooked in a delicious white wine, lemon, garlic sauce) was in danger of going to waste. I chopped it down to small bite size pieces and tossed it with some grape tomatoes, celery, and leftover farro and some Kimchi, great northern beans, a little mayonnaise and viola a yummy new type of chicken salad is born.

Fresh Market had a sale on some interesting looking artisan salad mixes from Canterbury Naturals. I bought the orzo cucumber one and it was yummy. It’s a little higher in sodium than I like (370 mg per 1/2 cup serving) so I will make my own from scratch next time!

There is something to be said with stocking your pantry and fridge with items that are versatile and healthy. I had some leftover chopped veggies and garbanzo beans from tortellini salad night, and a chop salad in the fridge, and someone had given me some tofurkey ‘sausage’ that I wanted to try,

1 package Dole chopped salad

1 package Tofurkey spinach pesto sausage

1 small bottle yogurt garlic dressing

2 pouches Seeds of Change red quinoa and brown rice

I sliced and browned the tofurkey in a skillet. I did not heat up the quinoa, as it is fully cooked already.

I just tossed everything in a bowl with some garbanzo beans and put it in the fridge until everyone was ready to eat.

I put out the leftover sliced black olives and red peppers for those who like them!

I was a little concerned that it was just too easy, but it was delicious. I can just imagine how amazing it could be on a day when I’m in the mood to make up fresh quinoa instead of going with the convenience stuff.

I cooked the tortellini and put it in a bowl with the dressing. The veggies were cut up and put into tupperware for ease of storage of whatever was left. We also had yesterday’s chicken salad on lettuce wraps or bread.

The good thing is, the veggies can be used in a salad another night and won’t be all soggy from the dressing! Not everyone likes the same stuff, so giving the kids their choice of toppings works great.

I had a long day of food preparation – making two different types of meatballs and freezing them.

The chopped salad kits are great because they make a variety of veggies that are already prepared easy to add in to cooked quinoa! Our local market puts them on BOGO sale regularly, so I always grab a few when they are on sale, and still buy them even when they are not!